"Pokemon Gold and Silver Shine Brighter Than Them All"

The Pokemon games began with Pokemon Red and Green, and those two were imported to English under the name of Pokemon Red and Blue. After the success of these two games, Nintendo released a special Pokemon Yellow. Three years after the original games were first released came Pokemon Gold and Silver: the two new additions to the already-expanding Pokemon series. The new editions added exactly 100 Pokemon (or 99 if you don't include the uber-rare Celebi, which can only be gained through Pokemon Center NY give-aways or various other contests), and a new region for you to explore, in addition to numerous other features.

The first notable change from Pokemon Red and Blue is that the graphics are much better than its predecessors. The colors have been expanded to take advantage of the Gameboy Color's 256 "pallet" (pardon the pun) and it all looks great. The introduction sequence from Red and Blue, which originally showed two Pokemon engaged in battle, has been changed to an overview of Pokemon playing, walking around places, basically them in their natural habitats. A much better way to start off the game.

Pokemon Gold and Silver take advantage of an internal clock built-in to the cartridges. At the beginning of the game you'll be able to select the time of day and the day of the week. Some Pokemon, such as Hoothoot and Gastly, are only available in the Evening, while others, like Hoppip are only available in the Morning. Day-exclusive events such as the Bug-Catching Contests, Technical Machines (teach your Pokemon 1 move that they couldn't learn naturally) that you can only get on certain days, and the 7 Brothers and Sisters who appear on certain days to give you items that will improve your Pokemon's powers.

Other changes include that your backpack is more organized, and divided into four seperate pockets: Items Pocket (which holds general items, stuff that can be sold at markets, equipped to your Pokemon, and heal your Pokemon), Balls Pocket (which holds Pokeballs to capture Pokemon), Key Items Pocket (neccessary items to complete the game), and TM/HMs Pocket (Hold the various Technical Machines you can find in the game). You can also hold much more items than the limited 20 that Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow allowed you to. I'm not sure how much, but I'm working on it. Did I mention that you can also equip your Pokemon with items? There's also an add-on to the Pokedex from Red/Blue/Yellow - there is a Pokemon with 26 forms, each form representing a letter from the alphabet. This add-on will allow you to record the different forms of this Pokemon you find. Another big addition is the ability to breed Pokemon. This can come in handy for Pokemon like Eevee, who have multiple evolutions, and there are new "Baby Pokemon" that can only be gained through breeding.

The game itself plays great and keeps with the spirit of Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow. The controls are easy, the music is good, and it's defenitely a fun RPG. One advantage Pokemon Gold and Silver have over the Pokemon Crystal game is that you can play Pokemon Gold and Silver on a Super Gameboy, the Gameboy Player for the Super NES, whereas Pokemon Crystal can not. Note that the Pokemon games, like any other RPG, require basic reading skills to understand the story. Of course, if you have 30 dollars to spend on a new copy of this game (which is a rip-off anyway), you probably have the required reading skills to play this game... overall, I'd give Pokemon Gold and Silver a 10/10.

Anyway, because of the word limit, I'll let you in on how to capture all of this game's Legendary Pokemon:

Lugia is a Psychic/Flying-type Pokemon. He can be caught once you get the Silver Wing and going into the Whirlpool Islands. In one of the deeper areas of the cave you can find a Level 40 Lugia, or Level 70 depending on your version (if you play Gold it'll be Level 70, if you play Silver it'll be Level 40. Although, in Gold you won't get the Silver Feather until Pewter City, which is in another region that you can't reach until you beat the Elite Four.).

Ho-Oh is a Fire/Flying-type Pokemon. He can be caught in the Tin Tower once you get the Rainbow Wing and going into the Tin Tower. It should also be noted that Ho-Oh comes equipped with the Sacred Ash, a one-time use item that will restore all the Pokemon in your party to full health, max Power Points, all that. It'll be Level 40 in Gold, Level 70 in Silver. As said above, you won't get the Rainbow Wing until Pewter City, which is deep into the game. You should probably use the elusive Master Ball on it, which you can only get once in the game unless you have extreme luck to win a Radio Contest.

There are also three more Legendaries - the Legendary Beasts, Raikou (Electric-type Pokemon), Suicune (Water), and Entei (Fire). You release them from stone in the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City. They'll begin to scatter around the Johto region, and they move ultra-fast. Once you see one, I reccomend you put a Pokemon at Level 30-39 or so at the top of your party, and look in your Pokedex to see where it is (you can look for its area in the Pokedex). Go to Cherrygrove Town, and look on your Pokedex. Have a Pokemon with Fly in your party, and fly back to Cherrygrove Town. Everytime you fly somewhere, the beast's location always changes. When it's there, go to Route 29, look for it a bit, and be ready, because these things are cowards - they run away at first chance. So you should probably use a Pokemon with a sleep move and a Quick Claw attached to it.

The final legendary, Celebi, is only available through Gameshark or Nintendo promotions, and since the second one doesn't exist anymore, Celebi is now only available through Gameshark. It WAS obtainable in Pokemon Crystal, which is to Gold and Silver what Pokemon Yellow was to Red and Blue, but then Nintendo decided to take it out of the game. -_-